The City of Asheville recently launched a new mobile site that provides close to real-time information on available spaces in the City’s four parking garages.
Called “Find Parking,” the site also allows people to click on the garage for directions.
Click on cityofasheville/wheres-parking on your mobile phone when out shopping or running errands and go directly to any garage where spaces are shown as available. There is also a desktop version if you want to check available parking before you leave the house. Visit it at ashevillenc.gov/FindParking.
Councilwoman Gwen Wisler asked staff to check into this service during a Multimodal Transportation Commission meeting some months ago, according to Parking Services Manager Harry Brown. The vendor worked with the City of Asheville ITS department to integrate the park mapping software.
“The whole goal is to get more information out to the public so they can make more efficient decisions,” said Brown.
The City has some 1437 parking spaces available between its four garages:
- Civic Center: 550 spaces
- Ranking Avenue: 262 spaces
- Biltmore Avenue (under the Aloft Hotel): 404 spaces, though some of them are for hotel guests
- Wall Street: 221 spaces
The first hour of parking is free, then the rate is $1 per hour with a daily maximum rate of $10.
Brown offers these tips for parking in downtown garages:
- The Civic Center garage normally has space available, unless there is a special event.
- The Biltmore Avenue garage normally has spaces available during the day. Parking tends to peak there at night.
- If you don’t mind walking a bit you won’t have problems finding a space.
On-street parking
Need to park downtown, but don’t have change? Grab your smartphone.
You can pay for on-street metered parking using your smartphone and a credit or debit card via Passport Parking.
There are more than 700 on-street metered spaces in downtown Asheville. Cost is $1.25 per hour, and coins are accepted as well as payment by the Passport Parking app. Metered spaces are enforced from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.